WISE100 Women in Social Enterprise 2025: Award winners revealed

The winners of the eighth annual NatWest WISE100 awards were revealed today at a celebration in central Glasgow, Scotland.

The WISE100 is an initiative by Pioneers Post in partnership with NatWest Social & Community Capital, to champion, support and share expertise among women in social enterprise across the UK.

The annual WISE100 list, plus Ones to Watch, were announced last week, naming the top 100 women in social enterprise across the UK, while today’s awards ceremony unveiled the winners in four categories: Social Business Woman of the Year, the Rising Star Award, Social Investment Champion and Changemaker Award.

The ceremony took place at the Glasgow city centre offices of the Royal Bank of Scotland - Natwest, with views of the Gallery of Modern Art and the famous cone-capped statue of the Duke of Wellington. It is the first time the awards have been held outside London. 

Vicki Papworth (pictured), CEO of NatWest Social & Community Capital, addressed the audience of women entrepreneurs: “You are at the heart of the change that we want to seek and that we want to make in the world.

“You have the courage to make it happen. You have the wisdom to know that it needs to happen, and you have the tenacity, the boldness, the loudness, the determination to make it happen, and to look to success where everyone else sees challenge.”

The ceremony included an interview with British Olympic badminton player Kirsty Gilmour (pictured), co-founder and managing director of BASE, a social enterprise which provides a safe and inclusive environment to bring people and communities together through a shared interest in badminton. 

Asked for a piece of advice for the social entrepreneurs attending, Gilmour said: “Be ambitious with what you want to achieve, but roll with the situations that come up – don't be totally steadfast in what you want this to become, because it could evolve into something unbelievably cool that you never thought it could be. Still have your core beliefs and values, and you’ll end up in a good spot.”

The event’s keynote speech was delivered by Glasgow-based social business trailblazer Susan Aktemel (pictured), founder of Homes for Good and the 2023 WISE100 Social Business Woman of the Year.

Recalling her 30-year journey from founding Impact Art in 1990s Glasgow (the “home of social enterprise", she says), she said the current economic environment was the hardest she’d ever worked in. “It means that the need for who we are and what we do has never been greater, and it can feel overwhelming at times. So what can we do? We need to have a real laser focus for each other and for ourselves.

“We need to think about self care, about our own income as well and just the level of sacrifice – when does that go too far? We need to think about our family and our friends and all the relationships and make sure that with all the things we're grappling with, we still have room for some fun and some joy. That's what's going to help keep us going and keep us being creative and pushing for better.”

Pioneers Post editor Julie Pybus and associate editor Anna Patton co-hosted the awards. Pybus said: “This WISE100 initiative is important to us at Pioneers Post because we know that – still – women entrepreneurs face more challenges than their male counterparts… However, the WISE100 awards are here to be a force for equity. Today is all about celebration and positivity.”

Read on to meet this year’s winners…

 WISE100 Social Business Woman of the Year

For a CEO, social entrepreneur or leader with more than five years of leadership experience building revenue, social impact and a strong team.

Joint winners: 

Yasmin Halai-Carter, Ethstat Ethical Stationery CIC

June O'Sullivan, London Early Years Foundation (LEYF)

Yasmin Halai-Carter (pictured) is founder and CEO of Ethstat Ethical Stationery CIC, a social enterprise that makes branded merchandise, ethical hampers and office supplies from a supply chain of social enterprises and for-purpose businesses. It gives 100% of profits to help the most vulnerable in society to get back into work through paid work placements.

Founded in 2012 and based in London, Ethstat is entirely self-funded through its trading activities. In 2024, its sales were £3m with gross margins that ranged from 20-30% depending on supply and projects.

Ethstat’s supply chain in 2024 included 477 for-purpose businesses, primarily social enterprises, and SMEs that support community projects across the UK. It provided 19,488 hours of real living wage work and training to people experiencing street homelessness, asylum seekers, care workers, prison leavers and more. 

Yasmin stands out for the combination of healthy profit margin, environmental and social impact within the business products and processes

Halai-Carter is a second-generation migrant who grew up in social housing; the first in her family to go to university. In addition to this, Ethsat donates dementia dolls and non-medicated aid to organisations providing dementia support, inspired by Halai-Carter’s experience of caring for her mother for 12 years.

Joining via video call, Halai-Carter thanked her team and the judges. She said: “Thank you for this platform. I promise to use this platform for change, and we will continue to fight for social justice and environmental justice and for good, strong business.”

Aktemel, the judge for this category, said the contribution Ethstat makes to dementia charities is “superb” and reflects a true social enterprise in all senses. Aktemel added: “Yasmin stands out for the combination of healthy profit margin, environmental and social impact within the business products and processes.”

June O’Sullivan (pictured) is CEO of London Early Years Foundation, the UK’s largest social enterprise nursery group, now operating 44 nurseries across London, with an annual turnover of £31m. 

London Early Years Foundation (LEYF) provides over 4,300 children with early years education, with 31% coming from low-income families. It offers the highest number of funded two-year-old places in London, ensuring that early learning is accessible to those who need it most. As many as 46% of LEYF’s nurseries are rated Outstanding by Ofsted, exceeding the national average of 16%.

In 2024, LEYF launched the London Institute of Early Years, which delivers professional development for workers in the sector and research to contribute to sector knowledge and best practice. A landmark initiative delivered by the Institute was the UK’s first-ever Parental Imprisonment Toolkit, co-produced with the charity Pact, helping educators support children affected by parental incarceration.

LEYF also runs an Apprentice Academy, which employed 109 local apprentices in 2024, achieving a 75% retention rate – exceeding the 56% national average. LEYF saved £40,000 through the Early Years Chef Academy and a partnership with City Harvest, redirecting funds to increase nursery hours for disadvantaged children.

O’Sullivan received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Nursery World Awards 2024. She advises the Department for Education, Ofsted and The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood on key issues such as workforce development and affordability.

Sometimes people say, ‘Well, you've been at it a long time’. But to some degree, that's the point

O’Sullivan said “Winning is important for me, because it shows people that it doesn't have to be just about startups… scalability and stickability and resilience is hugely important, being able to navigate the many economic and policy challenges that are thrown at us.”

She added: “Sometimes people say, ‘Well, you've been at it a long time’. But to some degree, that's the point.”

“If I think about June, I think about absolute ambition, resilience. [LEYF] is a business of scale,” Aktemel said. “And what I saw in the application was just constant innovation. Constant innovation, trying new things, environmental initiatives… working with parents in prisons. It’s that balance of a business at scale with innovation and doing the right thing that I loved.”

 WISE100 Rising Star Award

For a CEO, social entrepreneur or leader showing star qualities relatively new in their social enterprise career, with five or fewer years of leadership experience.

Winner:

Tiwa King, Beyond a Song CIC

Highly commended:

Felicia Mattis-Rome, Business Launchpad and Tooting Works

Muna Daud, FlowSense

Tiwa King (pictured) is a singer, wellbeing consultant, speaker and author who founded Beyond a Song, a social enterprise that works with communities, educational settings, companies and individuals to instil wellbeing at their core through the power of music. In particular, Beyond a Song aims to support women from underrepresented backgrounds and mothers of children with special needs.

In 2024, Beyond a Song delivered 3,200 training hours and provided over 4,600 mentoring hours. Through multiple revenue streams, including community programmes, events, corporate consultancy and music performances, the social enterprise generated income to match the grant funding it received over the course of the year. 

Over the past year, Beyond a Song pivoted to addressing the wellbeing needs of Black mothers with neurodivergent children through the NeuroVision project. As many as 70% of these women report lacking culturally sensitive support and 60% face stigma when navigating special educational needs services. 

At the event, King, who has a six-year old child diagnosed with autism, said: “That's the heart and soul of this now, and it's been really incredible.”

Tiwa has made an impressive transition building on her musical career and demonstrating a deep commitment to driving systemic change

Through the NeuroVision initiative, Beyond a Song reached over 40,000 people via programmes, online content and corporate consultancy. This included five sold out, in-person programmes and the launch of NeuroVision in four youth centres supporting children with Down syndrome, autism and other disabilities.

Through a partnership with Social Ark, King mentored emerging social entrepreneurs to develop community-focused projects over the course of 2024. She was named as the first community ambassador and lead for grant funder Foundation for Future London.

The guest judge for this category was Nicole Helwig, executive director of the Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation. Helwig said King’s work with the Ministry of Justice to shape new laws for Black children with special educational needs and disabilities sets her apart, alongside her recognition as a 2024 UN Women delegate. 

Helwig added: “Tiwa has made an impressive transition building on her musical career and demonstrating a deep commitment to driving systemic change.”

 WISE100 Social Investment Champion

For a woman who has made her mark in social investment during the past year, whether through a particular deal or through a broader contribution to the social investment field.

Winner: 

Fran Sanderson, Figurative

Fran Sanderson (pictured) is CEO of Figurative, an independent not-for-profit which supports impact investment and innovation in the cultural and creative sector. 

Through impact investment, philanthropic partnership development, innovation programmes, research, advocacy and advisory services, Figurative assists socially-driven cultural and creative sector organisations to achieve their goals and monitor and articulate their impact.

Figurative was formed in August 2024, combining Arts & Culture Finance (formerly part of Nesta) and New Philanthropy for Arts & Culture. Sanderson was instrumental in coordinating Figurative’s spin-out from Nesta, including the transfer of its three unique social investment funds for the cultural and creative sector to the new organisation, and she negotiated the simultaneous merger with New Philanthropy for Arts & Culture, strategically expanding the team’s fundraising expertise. 

• Read more: Global coalition explores ideas for new impact investment fund to back creative enterprises

Sanderson secured significant financial backing from funders including Arts Council England, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Paul Hamlyn Foundation, along with social investors including Better Society Capital. 

Since Figurative’s launch, Sanderson has led the expansion of the organisation’s advisory and advocacy work through engagements in Japan, Taipei and Australia. She has been behind new Figurative initiatives including a pilot programme offering loans to not-for-profit theatre organisations.

What's outstanding about Fran is not just that she blazes the trail in a sector that is not usually attractive for funders, but is able to get other people on board

The guest judges for this category were the NatWest Social & Community Capital team. On Purpose associate Omole Imosemi presented the award on behalf of the team. 

The judges found Sanderson demonstrated impressive work in a sector which has not historically been considered entrepreneurial, with a focus on philanthropy and grant-making as well as social investment. The judges said: “What's outstanding about Fran is not just that she blazes the trail in a sector that is not usually attractive for funders, but is able to get other people on board, with her skillset and achievements spanning partnerships policy, advocacy, across countries and at different layers of system; from established players to independent theatre practitioners.”

 WISE100 Changemaker Award

For a woman who has been a driving force for positive change through social innovation during the past year, working in any sector or organisation - from climate change to women’s empowerment.

Joint winners:

Farida Danmeri, Learning Connected

Sarah MacKenzie, For You Training

Highly commended:

Catherine Manning, Impact Reporting / MeasureUp

Ruth McFarlane, DWRM Consultants CIC [Doing What Really Matters]

Farida Danmeri (pictured) is founder & CEO of Learning Connected, which provides opportunities for students around the world to develop essential employability skills and supports international sustainable development. 

In the 2023-24 academic year, 97% of Learning Connected’s participants were people of colour and 70% were women. The organisation backed global initiatives that supported a combined 567 women through vocational training and helped 2,500 smallholder farmers adopt sustainable practices and access markets.

Under Danmeri’s leadership, Learning Connected has collaborated with universities such as SOAS and Warwick, and secured match funding from charities including Futures for Women. Danmeri is also a non-executive director at The Big Issue CIC and a consultant for Brunel University’s Entrepreneur Hub, where she supports early-stage ventures and champions innovation.

Learning Connected generates sustainable revenue through educational partnerships with universities and institutions, complemented by match funding from charities. 

Sarah MacKenzie (pictured) is CEO of For You Training, an accredited training centre that provides flexible and alternative learning opportunities to young people in rural communities, and particularly those not in mainstream education. For many of these young people this will be the only qualification they obtain. 

For You Training is the largest provider of Foundation Apprenticeships within the North Highlands of Scotland. Since 2017 it has certified 748 young people with industry-recognised qualifications, personal development and employability awards.

The organisation recently refurbished a run-down unit in the Tain town centre into a popular community cafe and hospitality training centre.

In 2024 MacKenzie led on the development of a net-zero community innovation campus, which will bring the largest investment into Tain in the last 40 years, with a £1.6m capital investment that will see the creation of local jobs, apprenticeships and increased visitor spend. 

Asked what it took to be a changemaker, MacKenzie said: “Just being passionate, and being tenacious, because it is very difficult, there will be challenges. It's not plain sailing, but it's worth it. And having people around you, creating that network of people is so important.”

The guest judge for this category was Camilla Marcus-Dew, founder of Amplify Goods, head of ventures at Connection Crew and WISE100 2023 Award Winner. She said all the finalists in the Changemaker category had a remarkable “systems lens” in their approach to social entrepreneurship.

She added: “I got the sense that lots of change makers understood their place within the system and how to shift that system.”

Delivered by Pioneers Post, in partnership with NatWest Social & Community Capital, the WISE100 is an initiative to celebrate, support and share expertise, learning and inspiration among women in social enterprise, social innovation, impact investing and mission-led business across the UK. Detailed criteria for each award can be found in our nominations story, and you can read more about pioneering women leaders in our WISE100 collection.

Top image, from left: Vicki Papworth, CEO of NatWest Social & Community Capital, Farida Danmeri and Sarah MacKenzie, winners of the WISE100 Changemaker award 2025, and Susan Aktemel, founder of Homes for Good, at the WISE100 2025 Awards ceremony. Event photography by Marina Solar.